


Nobody Knows Your Heart

by aeruh



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Princess Mononoke AU, SHEITH - Freeform, i love that movie so much, this is just a drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-10 01:05:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15938573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aeruh/pseuds/aeruh
Summary: So you know that scene from Princess Mononoke, where Ashitaka has that conversation with the wolf god at night? This is basically that, but Sheith.





	Nobody Knows Your Heart

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been playing around with some ideas for a Mononoke au ever since Keith got Kosmo. Last night I couldn’t sleep and decided to give it a shot, and this is what happened.

“You were crying in your sleep tonight.”

Shiro turned away from where Kosmo was sitting under the moon and looked towards the direction the voice came from. Krolia stood behind him, dressed in white pelts like Keith, with her arms crossed as she leaned against the rock by the cave entrance. Fresh paint had been applied to her face; it outlined her eyes and overlapped the markings on her cheeks, and mimicked the blue in Kosmo’s fur. And at the moment, she looked displeased. But it probably didn’t have anything to do with the effects from the paint; Shiro had never seen her smile around him.

“I’m sorry,” he replied. “I had a nightmare.” Though he couldn’t remember the majority of it, there were echoes of fire and screams and lives that he had taken. It wasn’t a pleasant dream, and he was glad most of it was missing. 

“Keith woke you. Kosmo was going to bite off your head to silence you; he was just a few seconds too slow.”

Shiro had heard some unusual things the past week. Krolia’s statement managed to best all of them, and he wasn’t sure how to respond.

“I… I’m sorry,” he repeated eventually. “I can’t remember any of it. But I’m grateful Keith helped me.” 

The Galra towering over him eyed him closely. It made Shiro feel uncomfortable, but he didn’t look away. 

“You love him, don’t you?” Krolia inquired. 

“I… yes. I suppose I do.” Shiro had never really thought about it before. At some point during their interactions, a feeling started to sprout. Maybe it was when Keith saved him. It must have grown and begun to flower without Shiro noticing, because now it was just… there. Like there had never been an empty space before where it was planted. Maybe there never had been. Maybe it simply didn’t exist until he spotted Keith across the river. 

Shiro didn’t understand much about things like that. But somehow or another, he started to fall in love. He wasn’t going to deny it; it was like a soothing balm against the anger he seemed to be constantly fighting to keep at bay... since he got the curse, at least. Loving Keith was his truth, and as clear and sure to him as the sun in the sky. 

“Yes. I love him.” His words carried more conviction this time than when he spoke only seconds ago. 

“You should leave.” Krolia said simply, exhaling sharply. It was phrased as a command; Shiro _would_ leave. There was no room for an argument. “You do not belong here. Your wound is healed enough that the journey back will not kill you. If Keith didn’t care so much, I would have you thrown out sooner.” 

Shiro’s hand hovered over where his right arm ended. “I’ll leave if you want me to. There’s other things that I need to take care of, with Lotor’s war. My curse won’t be lifted now, and I accepted that. But… I think Keith should come with me.”

It was apparently not the right thing to say. Above him, Krolia tensed. Kosmo sensed the change and growled softly; not so much to make Shiro feel like he was in danger, but enough for him to know to tread carefully. He was walking a thin line.

“Keith is Galra—”

“He is also _human,_ ” Shiro insisted. “He deserves to know what else is beyond this forest.”

But Krolia stood her ground. “Keith is Galra. He does not belong in your world. My beautiful, stubborn, loyal son has no place in your pathetic human squabbles. There is nothing for him there. He belongs to the river, and the wind that whispers secrets in the trees, and to _me._ When this place dies, so will Kosmo, and so will I, and so will he.”

“You hate humans so much,” Shiro said bitterly. “But Keith’s father was human, and Keith is half of him. You must have cared for humans once, no matter how long ago. You can’t keep him here when he follows a path that travels between both worlds. Don’t sentence him to his death when it doesn’t have to be his time yet. If you love him—”

Krolia‘s hand reached down and clenched itself around the hilt of her dagger. “Do not ever question the love I have for my child. I loved a man once, and his own kind took him from me when they learned he and I brought into this world. I loved _humans_ once, and now they’re sucked the life out of the place I call home. Even now I can feel it dying; and for what? So humans can start more wars? So their greed can grow?

“Keith would find nothing for him in your world, Takashi Shirogane. Only more blood, and rage, and death—everything I have seen with my own eyes. His heart burns with hate enough already. And soon enough your curse will kill you in the same way. So now I ask—if _you_ love him, why would you subject him to such a thing?” 

“If he stays here, it’ll come to him sooner or later anyway. You’re dying, too. From that wound the humans have you. You told Keith so yourself,” Shiro said. “I was there. You can’t hide him forever. Let him make the choice on his own.”

A moment passed before Krolia said anything. She turned her gaze from him to the horizon line of trees that spread before them, like she was looking for something that wasn’t there. 

“My decision has not changed. By sunrise tomorrow morning, you will leave. Tonight is your last night with us, and with Keith. Kosmo will lead you out of the forest. If I see you here again, he will tear your throat out.”

Kosmo’s ears perked forward and he huffed a breath of air. Shiro had no doubt the wolf understood her perfectly, word for word. 

“...I understand.” 

No amount of arguing was going to change Krolia’s mind. Shiro wanted to be resentful, but for some reason… he couldn’t. He didn’t doubt that Krolia loved her son more than even the land around them and the Forest Spirit itself. She was doing what she thought was best, but the woods were dying, a human was in love with her only child, and soon the god of the forest would take her, too. Krolia was fighting desperately to hold onto whatever she had left while she still could.

So Shiro couldn’t hold it against her. Not really. And if she truly wanted him to—which she did, that much was obvious—then Shiro would leave. All he could do was hope Keith felt any sort of affection for him and was willing to see beyond the border of his small world. 

Having made her point clear, Krolia didn’t deem him fit to speak to anymore. Instead she turned to enter the cave, and Kosmo got up to follow. They vanished into the darkness behind him. He was left alone with his thoughts and a withering land.

Shiro looked out to where Krolia had been searching so desperately. He wasn’t sure what she was aiming to find, but as Shiro panned back and forth across the forest, he realized kept thinking about the person he left sleeping in the cave. There was only a handful of hours left with him now, and he was struggling with the urge to make the time count. It was impossible to tell what would happen in the day ahead that was waiting for them. Whatever it might be, Shiro knew it couldn’t be good.

**Author's Note:**

> It’s just a drabble—I didn’t really know where I was going with it, but this scene was one of my favorites from the Mononoke movie. I probably won’t add any more to the au though. Not for a while at least. I have two other fics I’m trying to work on. And I’m sorry some of the story changed in this tiny fic; but I wanted to add Krolia in because she’s awesome and I love her very much. 
> 
> I’m also sorry for the lame title. I didn’t know what else to call it


End file.
